Some of you hit the middle of the school year last month, but the effects do linger. Here’s how you can tell:

All the pens you bought in bulk last fall are missing, and the pencils are jammed in the vacuum cleaner along with a dozen twisty ties.

Saxophone practice isn’t nearly as painful to endure as it was a few months ago.

Your recycling bin is filled with math homework, the top half of permission slips and excess kiddie artwork (carefully hidden under empty cereal boxes and a circular for a supermarket nowhere near your house.)

Your purse smells like a box of Scratch and Sniff Chocolate Valentine’s Day cards.

You can sense the school bus is about to arrive three-to-five minutes beforehand, like birds before an earthquake.

The smell of Staples no longer gives you a school supply high.

You have a huge pile of socks and none of them match.

You are available to explain the scientific method, conjugate the French verbs “faire” and “avoire” and tell the story of the Boston Massacre in a manner that could only be improved if you wore a period costume.